Why should your church use organizational principles?
Reason #2: Because God’s requirements for the leaders include it.
I realize this is a fundamental shift in the way most pastors understand their role. I work with a lot of pastors and church leaders. Most believe the pastor should marry and bury. He should pray and preach and counsel. Churches expect the pastor to maintain a vibrant prayer life, study the Bible and work well with people.
Expectation to Lead
Unfortunately, most also wrongly believe if the pastor does those things, the church will do well. It won’t. Churches must be led. We will see the Bible lists leadership as one of the pastor’s functions. I even had a pastor tell me it was impossible for someone to both preach well and lead well.
That’s just not true!
What he was really telling me is that he believed he could not both preach and lead. Sadly, when a person believes he/she cannot lead, they won’t. Furthermore, they won’t learn how to lead. That unbiblical mindset leaves the leader in a no-win situation. And, it leaves the church with less than stellar results.
Biblical View
This is not a shift from the biblical text. As a matter of fact, the Bible’s design includes organizational leadership. Now, this idea counters the church culture. But, it fulfills God’s mandate. It also fulfills His requirements for the leader, the pastor. The pastor’s role as overseer is thorough-goingly biblical.
The function of overseer stands alongside elder and shepherd. It is no less important and no less required.
Rich Halcombe
According to the passages dealing with the role of pastor, supervision is a front and center requirement, not a one-off suggestion.
Much of what you hear about the role and responsibility of the pastor discounts this idea. But, the Bible does not. As a matter of fact, the Bible places a strong emphasis on using organizational principles. the Bible expects the pastor to lead the church. After all, Jesus used these principles. This idea is baked into the expectations for the pastor (often called elder).
Let’s take a look at three of the most clear and prominent passages of Scripture that address this subject.
Leadership Highlighted
Notice a few things:
A. The 1 Timothy 3 passage says the office is overseer. And, it says it twice, both in verse one and verse two.
B. 1 Timothy 3 gives one of the clearest descriptions of the job. It lists several requirements. But, one requirement gets more ink than all the rest. Management, or a function of organizational leadership gets two verses (verse 4 and 5), more than any other expectation.
C. I Peter 5, as we have said, gives the only description that includes all three words. But, note the progression. The writer sequences the three. He doesn’t just list them. Elder then Shepherd/Pastor then Overseer/Bishop/Supervisor.
From the words themselves, elder focuses on personal development. This “mature one” attends to prayer, study, preaching, meditation and the personal spiritual disciplines.
The shepherd role functions interpersonally. After all, you can’t be a shepherd without sheep. This attribute develops a pastor (the word also translated from “poimein”) with other people. It’s interesting that the word “pastor” refers to a leader of a church, but also means a herdsman in the outside with animals kind of way. To take it a thought further, “pastoral” means “of the countryside” and “devoted to livestock raising” as well as “relating to the pastor of a church”.
It makes sense. The Bible describes this leader’s role. Calling it “pastor” or “elder,” shows how God expected the church to be led. Further, wisdom bases leadership on the design of the organization. As the director of a network of churches, I often get asked what I do. I say, “I resource, network and plant churches.” That also happens to be our mission. The key leader represents all that the organization is and does. The mission of the organization defines the key leader’s role. The same is true of the church.
1 Timothy 5:17 tells us the “elders who rule well… “ (NASB). This means, of course, the elders rule (lead). They must rule in order to rule well. Ruling denotes oversight. It includes responsibility and giving direction to the local body. When an elder rules the body, that elder leads organizationally, not just personally.
And, this passage does not only allow an elder to rule. It says elders who rule well should be paid well. The Christian Standard Bible says one who rules well should “be considered worthy of double honor.” Bible Gateway adds a footnote describing the double honor, understanding it to be “respect and remuneration.” Leading organizationally, when done well, should be recognized and rewarded.
Don’t only focus on personal or interpersonal attributes. Organizational principles should be used and used well.
Organizational leadership requires different, additional skills. Praying, teaching, witnessing, visiting the sick and studying the Bible are important. But, personal and interpersonal skills only form parts of the pastor’s responsibility. That responsibility extends beyond those two areas. It includes organizational leadership. The local church needs the pastor to be mature. She also needs good teaching. But, the local church requires organizational leadership if she is to accomplish her God-given mission.
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We focus on providing leaders with resources they need to make a difference and become actionable leaders for their organization. We look forward to helping you achieve your goals as we have done for many others.
